Protesters who have been staging a sit-in at a key border-crossing point in southwestern Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan say that security forces have opened fire on them, killing one and injuring several more.
Sadiq Achakzai, a spokesman for the protests staged in Balochistan Province's Chaman district for months by traders and shopkeepers over new travel restrictions, told RFE/RL on May 4 that local security forces raided the demonstrators' camp and set fire to their tents while they were away.
Achakzai said that members of Pakistan's Frontier Corps "opened fire on peaceful protesters when they reentered their agitation camp."
Achakzai said one person was killed and more than a dozen were injured, and that victims were rushed to a local hospital for treatment.
Video purporting to show victims at a local hospital was posted on social media, but RFE/RL was unable to independently verify the claims.
When asked by RFE/RL about the alleged incident, Colonel Abdul Wahab, a spokesman for the Frontier Corps in Balochistan, said only that an investigation was under way.
WATCH: Unions and political parties launched the protest in the city of Chaman, near the border with Afghanistan, in October after Pakistan introduced visas between the two countries.
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Pakistani Protesters Demand Relaxed Afghan Travel Rules
Traders have been protesting at Chaman, which borders the Afghan town of Spin Boldak, since October. They have demanded that the government rescind a new policy that requires them to present valid documents to cross the border.
In October, Pakistan unilaterally ended the century-old "Easement Rights," an arrangement that allowed members of some communities straddling the 19th-century Durand Line border to cross freely.
The policy has been heavily criticized by members of Pashtun communities on either side of the border who have complained that its has harmed their livelihoods and resulted in huge financial losses.
The Taliban's de facto government in Kabul has also criticized the policy, which has resulted in the Chaman border crossing -- the second-busiest between Pakistan and Afghanistan -- and others to be shut.
In January, talks between the Taliban and Pakistani officials to reopen the crossings broke down.